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Obituary for Thomas Addison Jr.

Thomas Albert Addison Jr died October 17, 2017 at the ripe old age of 92 at Richfield Health & Rehabilitation Center in Salem, VA.

He was born in Wise County, Virginia in 1925, the third child of a family of 16 children. He inflated his age to enlist in the US Marine Corps at 17 and fought in the Pacific theatre during WWII. Following medical discharge and recovery, he returned to Bristol, VA, to complete high school and enrolled at Milligan College in Elizabethton, TN. He transferred to Chico State College in Chico, CA, where he earned a BA in English. While in California he married his first wife, Violet Lester, and had three children, Karen, Tom, and Tim. He taught in several schools including a oneroom schoolhouse on the HoopaReservation in Humboldt County, CA. He divorced and returned to Bristol, VA, where he married MaryJane Dishner and had a fourth son, Marvin. He was a lifelong learner, voracious reader, avid walker, and incredibly generous man — his family joked that he would give the shirt off his back to a stranger. He will be sorely missed by his children, grandchildren, and surviving siblings, but we hope in the mercy of Christ to welcome him into everlasting peace.

A Funeral Mass will be celebrated by Father Ken Shuping at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Salem, VA, at 11 AM, Wednesday, October 25, 2017. He will be interred at Mountain Home National Cemetery in Johnson City, TN. An online guest book is available for family and friends by visiting www.johnmoakey.com.